1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket for an electrical part, which detachably supports the electrical part such as IC package, particularly having a structure for making strong a pressing force against the electrical part.
2. Relevant Art of the Invention
An IC socket as a conventional socket for an electrical part is for example shown in FIG. 14 and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,238.
That is, with reference to FIG. 14, reference numeral 1 denotes a socket body to which an IC package 2 is mounted to achieve electrical conduction to contact pins 1a, and a pressure cover 3 is attached to the socket body 1 to be pivotal through a shaft (shaft pin) 4. The pressure cover 3 has a front end side to which a lever member 5 is attached to be pivotal through a shaft (shaft pin) 6. A stopper member 8 is disposed to be pivotal about a shaft (shaft pin) 7 through which the stopper member 8 is separated in position from the lever member 5 and the shaft 6. The stopper member 8 is provided with an engaging portion 8a which is engageable with an engagement portion 1b of the socket body 1.
With the structure shown in FIG. 14, under the condition of the engaging portion 8a of the stopper member 8 being engaged with the engagement portion 1b of the socket body 1, when the lever member is rotated in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 14, the shaft 7 is also rotated in the counterclockwise direction about the shaft 6. As a result, since the distance between the shaft 7 and the engaging portion 8a of the stopper member 8 is not changed, the pressure cover 3 is pivoted downward in accordance with the rotation of the shaft 7 thereby to increase the pressing force against the IC package 2.
However, in such conventional structure, since the pressure cover 3 is pressed downward by utilizing the rotational motions of two shafts 6 and 7, in order to change the pressing-down amount of the pressure cover 3 and/or a timing for engaging the engaging portion 8a of the stopper member 8 with the socket body 1, it is necessary to improve the structure thereof, for example, by making large the distance between both the shafts 6 and 7, thus providing a problem.
Furthermore, in the conventional structure, the opening/closing operation of the pressure cover 3 and the pivoting operation of the lever member 5 must be done in separated two stages, and particularly, when the cover 3 is opened, it is necessary to lift up the lever and to disengage the stopper member 8 from the socket body by hands or using an automatic machine, thus providing a troublesome operational inconvenience.
An object of the present invention is to substantially eliminate defects or drawbacks encountered in the prior art mentioned above and to provide, in one aspect, a socket for an electrical part comprising:
a socket body having an accommodation portion in which an electrical part having a number of terminals is accommodated;
a number of contact pins arranged to the socket body so as to be contacted to or separated from the terminals of the electrical part;
a pressure cover mounted to the socket body to be pivotal at one end portion thereof in a manner that, when the pressure cover is pivoted in a cover closed direction, the electrical part accommodated in the accommodation portion of the socket body is pressed and held so that the terminals of the electrical part are contacted to the contact pins, respectively;
an arm member attached to another end portion of the pressure cover to be rotatable;
a latch member attached to the arm member to be rotatable so as to be engaged with or separated from the socket body;
a link member operatively connecting the latch member and the pressure cover,
wherein when the arm member is rotated in one direction, the latch member is rotated through the link member to be engaged with the socket body and when the arm member is further rotated in the same direction, the pressure cover further approaches the socket body, and on the other hand, when the arm member is rotated in another direction, the latch member is rotated through the link member in a direction to release the engagement of the latch member with the socket body.
In another aspect, there is also provided a socket for an electrical part comprising:
a socket body having an accommodation portion in which an electrical part having a number of terminals is accommodated;
a number of contact pins arranged to the socket body so as to be contacted to or separated from the terminals of the electrical part;
a pressure cover mounted to the socket body to be pivotal through a shaft member at one end portion thereof in a manner that, when the pressure cover is pivoted in a cover closed direction, the electrical part accommodated in the accommodation portion of the socket body is pressed and held so that the terminals of the electrical part are contacted to the contact pins, respectively;
an arm member attached to another end portion of the pressure cover to be rotatable;
a latch member attached to another end portion of the pressure cover to be rotatable;
a link member operatively connecting the latch member and the latch member,
wherein when the arm member is rotated in one direction, the latch member is rotated through the link member to be engaged with the socket body and, thereafter, when the arm member is further rotated in the same direction, the pressure cover further approaches the socket body, and on the other hand, when the arm member is rotated in another direction, the latch member is rotated through the link member in a direction to release the engagement of the latch member with the socket body.
In both the above aspects, the above-mentioned one rotating direction of the arm member is a direction for closing the pressure cover and the another rotating direction thereof is a direction for opening the pressure cover.
The latch member is provided with a hook and the socket body is provided with an engagement portion which is engaged with the hook of the latch member.
In preferred embodiments, the socket is an IC socket and the electrical part is an IC package.
According to the socket for the electrical part of the structures and characters mentioned above, the pressure cover is operated by means of the arm members. When the arm members are rotated, the latch members are also rotated through the link members so as to be engaged with or separated from the socket body. Accordingly, the opening amount and the opening timing of the latch members can be easily set by exchanging only the link members. Furthermore, the opening/closing of the pressure cover can be performed only through the operation of the arm members.
The nature and further characteristic features of the present invention will be made further clear from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying drawings.